Relaxation
by Phoenixfyretail
Summary: Gajeel arrives back at Fairy hills, but is sore, tired, and he misses Levy. She helps him out a bit. Gajeel x Levy Rated T: Gajeel, being Gajeel
1. Chapter 1

Gajeel and Levy

Gajeel trudged wearily along the streets, heading for his small home, where he knew Pantherlily was waiting. As he walked along, he took note of just how much he was aching all over, his back was sore from the numerous times he went crashing through trees, his feet sore from running all over the damn place after bandits, even his hands were sore. His pocket was heavy with the several hundred thousand jewel he had received from the successful completion of the job though, gihihi.

As he walked through a familiar section of Fairy hills, he was struck with how strong his desire to see Levy was. He looked about, and saw that Levy's apartment wasn't far, just around the corner a ways. He headed that way, and arrived at her doorstep a few minutes later. When a very surprised Levy opened the door a few seconds after he knocked, he grinned at her.

"Hey Shrimp." He watched as her face lit up at seeing his familiar bad ass, smirking grin.

"Gajeel!" She cried, jumping up happily to give him a hug. He caught her, stepping back to support the extra weight. His back screamed in agony and he grunted in pain, but he held her close, breathing in her familiar smell; paper, ink, and something distinctly female, sweet and musky. He gloried in it for a few seconds, before the pain overwhelmed his senses and he set her down.

"What's wrong Gajeel?" she asked, her beautiful eyes worried. She could tell something was hurting him, even from just the way he stood. The grunt of pain when she hugged him only proved her theory.

"Are you hurt?" He looked away briefly, wondering if he should tell the truth. She beckoned him in and he gladly walked inside, kicking his boots off by the door, groaning in relief.

"Nah… Just sore. Took a couple hard hits, that's all." He admitted the truth with a soft blush, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. It was still weird to have someone be concerned about him. He set his bag down next to his boots, and followed her into her small sitting room, one of the few rooms in her apartment that wasn't completely crammed with books.

"Oh Gajeel…" she sighed, and looked around her sitting room, seeming to decide on something. He watched as she nodded her head, and raced off to find something. Knowing she would probably take a couple seconds, he flopped down onto her comfortable couch and sighed, letting his head flop back on the back of the couch. He was tired. And hungry. And he hurt…

He looked up when he heard her returning, and blinked in surprise. Her arms were wrapped around a mountain of blankets and a pillow, with a small basket dangling from one finger. He watched as she dropped the bedding onto the floor, and set the basket on the side table, next to where he was sitting. She rolled the blanket mountain out, and he grinned when he saw that it was actually sheet covered futon. He looked over at the basket and saw that it bore several bottles of oil.

She set the pillow by where she was kneeling, at the head of the futon.

"I can help you out. Lay down here, and I can take care of this."

She stood up at the same time he did, and while he slowly laid down, she went into her bedroom and after changing her clothes, her bathroom. What was she up to? He made himself comfortable, stripping down to his boxers and tucking himself under the sheets, tossing his dirty clothes in a pile on the floor. She came back from the bathroom, dressed in one of his huge shirts and a pair of shorts, her hair up in a messy tail on her head.

He closed his eyes and just laid still, happy to finally lay down. So needless to say, he was surprised when she pulled half of the sheets down, so his upper body was exposed down to his waist. He jerked in surprise, with a startled, "Wha…?"

"Relax Gajeel. I'm just going to give you a massage. It'll help. Trust me." She said, and he could see that she was warming the oil in her hands. He grunted, and blushed a bit, but set his head back down on the pillow. She brushed his tangled hair out of the way, throwing the mass over his left shoulder so it was completely out of the way.

He heard a bottle pop open, and then warm oil drizzled over his back, followed by a pair of small, warm hands stroking the oil over the expanse of warm flesh. At first her hands applied little to no pressure, just working the oil into his tanned skin, but then they began to press with glorious amounts of pressure, still just stroking in big loops down each side of his back. He groaned, and she smirked, changing the strokes to use her knuckles and knead up each side of his spine. She did several laps, and then came up to kneel by his left shoulder, and, using her thumbs, started to expertly work the multiple knots out of his bruised muscles.

"Fuckin' Hell…" He groaned under his breath, his voice raspier than it normally was. It hurt, but it was a good pain, and after a few minutes, he could feel the release of several knots loosening. Levy briefly moved to switch sides, and she repeated the process on his right shoulder, which was significantly more knotted. She spent several minutes just working the initial knots out, then stroked the muscles to relaxation. He groaned again, and sighed, never before had someone paid him so much attention like this.

Her small hands came up to work on the back of his neck, massaging the small knots here and there, and he felt the small headache he'd had all day slowly ebb away. He moaned his relief, and he heard her giggle in response, followed by her serious voice.

"If this hurts you too much, tell me, and I'll stop." She said, her hands resting on his bicep, where his right shoulder still was feeling very much so not relaxed. He nodded, and tensed slightly, wondering what she was going to do.

"Relax Gajeel, this will only work if you relax. Trust me." He nodded again, and slowly relaxed, until his arm was loose and limp in her hands. She brought his arm behind his back, his wrist resting on his hip, and then shoved hard on his shoulder. They both heard the definite click of it popping back into place.

"Gah! Fucking Hell, that hurt! Damn…. That feels better." He moaned the last part.

"Your shoulder was halfway dislocated. That's why it hurt so bad. I could feel it." She said, and he heard her apply more oil to her hands. She started to work it into his upper arm, fingers coursing with strong pressure all the way down to his wrists and then back up, careful to avoid pulling on the multiple piercings in his forearm. He sighed with relief, half of the agony already abated. Then the clever bookworm picked up his hand, removed his glove, tossed it onto his dirty clothes, and dug her fingers into his palm.

A deep groan ripped from his throat, and he could feel his eyes roll back into his head. Goddamn that felt SO Good. She carefully worked the tension from his palm, the base of his thumb especially, and his each of his fingers, each of his knuckles cracking back into place.

"Geez… Gajeel… How do you do this to yourself?" She murmured, and shook her head. She switched sides and repeated the arm and hand massage to his left side. His other glove joined the dirty clothes pile. The man had melted down into the futon, his face substantially more relaxed now. He cracked open one red eye and watched her as she worked on his left hand.

"Thanks… Levy." She smiled back, and set his hand down, coming to kneel next to his lower back. After applying more oil to her hands, she massaged the few knots from his hips, and stroked her fingers gently over the multiple bruises along the planes of muscle that made up his back. Once she had finished, she pulled the sheets over his torso again, and went down to kneel by his feet. She pulled the sheets up just enough to reveal his feet and ankles, and she was pleasantly surprised by what she saw.

He evidently took good care of his feet, as they were clean, and his nails were clipped.

"Good to see that you actually take care of your feet." She said, as her fingers dug into the ball of his right foot. He responded with a deep groan, then something between a mumble and a yelp as she found a particularly deep knot in his foot. She carefully went about loosening it, and she could feel him relax down even more into the futon. She thoroughly massaged his foot, working out the tension he held, and she could feel the man beginning to fall asleep as she switched feet and repeated the process for his left foot. When she finished and covered him up again with the sheet, she heard a soft snore come from the now sleeping dragon slayer.

She came back up to kneel by his head, and pulled out the comb she had tucked into her pocket, the one she had snitched from the bathroom. He didn't even wake up as she diligently worked the comb through the black strands, being careful not to pull them.

She stroked her fingers through the soft hair, and worked the last couple of knots free, knowing that he only let her do this because it saved him the hassle of doing it himself, and he enjoyed the closeness of being with her. She also suspected that he enjoyed it because it just felt good, and she always loved it when he reciprocated, his large hands gently combing through her curly blue hair. He was actually very good at braiding too, and she remembered many happy hours of her sitting and reading a book aloud to him as he gently wove her blue strands into delicate braids.

She happily recalled when he had first starting braiding her hair while she was reading, and she had just thought that he was combing his fingers through her hair. Later that night, when she went to brush her teeth, she had looked in the mirror and gasped, as her hair was braided in a beautiful braided crown around her head. Half of the blue strands had hung down around her face, and the other half was French braided around her head. He had used a small pin to secure the ends in the back of her head. Some strands had hung around her face, framing her eyes. She had rushed out and hugged him, crying that it was so beautiful and wondering how he had done it. He had smirked, hugged her and patted her back, and flat out refused to tell her.

She also remembered swearing not tell anyone that it was him who did it, and if she did, he would never do it again and deny all accusations. She was very careful not to tell anyone, and no else besides them knew who the mystery braider was. She had worn her hair in the many elaborate braided hairstyles he had given her to the guild on many occasions, and she had been relentlessly asked as to who did it, but she refused to give them an answer. To this day, nobody knew who it was, although there were many theories. Not one involved Gajeel in any way.

She occasionally put his hair up into ponytail for him while was working with her on teaching her dragonic runes, and he in turn would teach her art of writing and pronouncing the rumbling, rough symbols of dragonic. Or he would just be reading to her, his deep voice making the rough language just that much sexier, and she would just untangle his hair for him, as the black strands were always a mess after a job of any kind.

She finished combing his hair for him and braided the black mass, as she knew if he didn't do so before sleeping, it got hopelessly tangled. She yawned, and stretched, as it was late. Levy stood, and made her way to her bedroom, knowing that if Gajeel woke up later in the night he would make his way into her bedroom and come sleep next to her in her bed. She laid down and curled up in her soft blankets, sighing happily, before falling asleep.

She woke a few hours later, cracking open one eye, as Gajeel slipped into bed beside her, strong arms pulling her against his broad chest. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, a piercing just brushing her eyebrow. She snuggled down into his warm embrace, and he held her close, one hand gently tangled in her hair, the other resting on her ass.

"Perv." She muttered under breath.

"Gihihi… Thanks Levy." He mumbled quietly.

"You're welcome Gajeel. Go to sleep."

He already was.

_Special Epilogue because I edit these things_

Gajeel woke up the next morning, stretched, yawned, and realized that he wasn't ungodly sore like he was expecting. He felt refreshed, and definitely much better. Sure his back still hurt a bit, but that was to be expected, as he did go flying through several trees. He looked down at the sleeping form of Levy, her little body curled up on top of him, his legs on either side of her hips. He pressed a gentle kiss to the head of blue hair in front of his face. She mumbled something, and looked up, eyes opening blearily.

She yawned, and rubbed her eyes, then murmured, "Morning Gajeel."

"Mornin' beautiful." He said back, rough voice uncharacteristically soft, and she recognized that tone. Either he was going to tickle her, or he was going to kiss her. His large hands came up to frame her face, and he pulled her to him, capturing her lips in a morning kiss.

She pulled herself slightly closer, and shifted so that her thighs now straddled his hips. He sat up at that, and his hand slipped down to grab her waist, holding her close to his bare chest, his clothes still in a pile on the floor. He was still wearing his boxers though, thank god.

As his tongue came into play, and then they briefly parted for air, before returning to the kiss, tongues fighting for dominance, her hands came up to tangle in his hair and grab onto his shoulder, fingers gripping tightly. He pulled away, leaving her in a daze, chuckling.

"Gihihihi… a proper thank you for yesterday, squirt."

She sighed, smiled, and shook her head. Gajeel will be Gajeel, though she was hoping he would keep calling her beautiful. Damn it.


	2. Chapter 2

Dragonic lessons

After much begging on her part, she finally got Gajeel to agree to teach her how to read and translate the symbols of the language he grew up reading; Dragonic. She had to threaten to annoy him consistently until he taught her, but he eventually, reluctantly, agreed. She had squealed in happiness, and hugged him right there, in front of everyone at the guild. She could feel his blush down to his throat.

"Shrimp! Gerroff!" He had said, blushing like an idiot, his strong hands pulling her off. She, blushing as well, realizing what she had done, let go quietly. Everyone chuckled and sniggered in amusement, even Erza.

"When will you teach me, Gajeel?" She asked, her voice now quiet and meek with the prolonged embarrassment.

"Later. Come by after training." He grunted back, gruff from the embarrassment of her hugging him. He had then turned and stalked out, Pantherlily following him, sniggering at him about the blush still on his face.

"So, what was that about Levy?" Comes Erza.

"He's gonna teach me Dragonic!" She says, dancing over to the group. "This will be so amazing! I can't wait!"

Later~~~~~~

She approached his door, and knocked quietly, waiting for the gruff reply that was the norm. It came in the form of, "Come on."

She walked in, kicking off her sandals at the doorway, where two pairs of his boots and two of his giant coats hung. His house was small, and surprisingly neat. The floors were worn wood, the counters all matte black granite and dark wood, the living room all plush furniture and a small table covered in small scraps of metal and books.

She entered the living room, and dropped her small bag holding several scrolls of parchment and some pens next to the table before flopping down on his comfortable couch. He came out of his bedroom a few seconds later, a towel around his shoulders, shirtless, and his pants just barely buttoned up, hanging loosely on his hips.

She couldn't contain her blush as he finished drying his wet hair to the best of his ability, before pulling a shirt from one of his huge pockets and slipping it on. It was a simple black tank, and as she looked down, trying to hide her blush, she noticed he was barefoot as well.

"Hey shrimp. You ready?"

"Yes!" She said back eagerly, her excitement overcoming the embarrassment at seeing her crush shirtless.

He flopped down next to her on the couch, reaching over and grabbing a book off of his coffee table and opening it to the first page.

"Dragonic is a harsh language, and it takes lots of skill and determination to learn it. Translating it into other languages is even more difficult. You sure you want to learn?" He looked to her, his deep red eyes serious.

She nods, her own mocha orbs hardening slightly in determination. "Yes. I've wanted to for years."

He smirks, his usual grin overtaking his face, making her blush.

"Then let's get started."

Three exhausting hours later of symbols later_

Gajeel sat back, and really watch Levy at work. She was certainly determined, her little hands working a million miles an hour to take notes while he taught her the basics, and her lips mouthing each word and key symbol. She had covered all but one of her seven scrolls of parchment in notes and the scrawling of the symbols, and he had to admit, she was fucking good at what she did.

She never gave up, or complained, instead absorbing the new information as fast as he presented it. She was looking through the first page of the book he had pulled out, a history of dragons, one of the few things he had saved after Metallicana had disappeared. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, and her fingers stroked along under the rough script, her mind already beginning to learn to decipher the runes.

"This one… You haven't taught me this one yet." She turned to him, as she was sitting on the floor in front of his feet. He leaned forward from where he was sitting on the couch behind her and looked over her shoulder at what she was confused about.

It was a rather complex rune that he remembered having particular difficulty with when he was learning the language himself. After Metallicana taught it to him, he had sat down and written it out until he could do it in his sleep. He told her the meaning of the rune, and pronounced the rune in dragonic without even thinking about it, not realizing that he hadn't been doing that out loud.

When he was teaching her, he was telling her the name of the rune, not how to pronounce it. In turn, if one knew the name of the rune, it made it easier to translate it into another language, because they knew what it meant. Pronunciation was the most difficult part of dragonic, which was why most people never bothered to learn, as the symbols clashed in harsh sounds and rumbles. So he had just assumed that it would be easier to teach her via the names of the runes, not the pronunciations.

So when he looked down, now realizing that he had pronounced it, he started when he saw her wide eyed stare of awe.

"Gajeel… That's amazing. I've never heard anyone speak Dragonic before." Her voice was even awed.

"I did live with a dragon shrimp." He said while chuckling, finding her awe slightly amusing. He saw the blush flood her face at the reminder of an obvious fact.

"Will you do it again?" She begged, eyes pleading, and beautiful. Damn it, she was always so damn cute.

And so he found himself reading to her from memory, the book pages that she had been studying coming to life from his deep, rumbling voice speaking the dragonic fluently. He couldn't help being reminded of the many long days spent with Metallicana studying this same book when he was learning. He watched her fingers float along the symbols on the pages as he read to her in a language she didn't understand, and he watched the dawning comprehension in her eyes as she recognized the symbols throughout the pages.

After stopping the pronunciation and watching her study, he eyed the head of blue hair in front of him. He thought about it for a second, deciding on 'Oh, fuck it!' he plucked her headband from her hair, and combed his fingers through the soft blue strands, and he listened to the scratch of her pen on the parchment.

He wove his fingers through the strands, and untangled the few knots he found, before he picked up a small section, and began to weave the strands into a braid. After starting that, he found his fingers naturally braiding a crown around her head, leaving small sections to hang in front of her face, but the rest made it into a waterfall crown braid. He clipped it into the beginning of the braid behind her left ear, wound her head band into a neat coil and slipped it into her bag.

After another hour or so of studying, she stood up, stretched, and turned to look at him, smiling softly. "Can I come back tomorrow to study some more?"

He nodded, secretly admiring her slim waist and her curvy hips. And as he looked up, her hair. He did a better job than he thought he did. Damn… He was good.

"Sure thing."

She beamed at him, and then turned to go to his bathroom. He smirked.

With Levy_

As I was washing my hands, I looked up into his mirror, and I gasped in shock. My hair…. Oh my god. NO WAY! Did Gajeel really do this!?

I dried my hands, and my fingers slowly ran over the smooth weave of the two braids in her hair, completely crowning her head. I opened the door and ran to him, where he was standing in the kitchen, chewing absently on a bolt.

I leapt into his arms. "Gajeel! It's so gorgeous! Thank you so much!" I was smiling, and holding him close, reveling in the feeling of his strong arms holding me as well, more out of reflex than anything.

"Uh… Oh… You're welcome?" he was blushing again. I sat back a bit, knowing he wouldn't let me fall.

"How did you do it though?" I asked, looking seriously into his blushing face and red eyes.

"I've been able to do braids in my own hair for a while now. It's no big deal, really shrimp. But you tell anyone, and I'm gonna say I had nothin' to do with it, ya hear?"

I nod, and hug him again. This time, he sighs, and then holds me close willingly. His hair tickles my nose, and I realize that my fingers are buried in the bushy, black lengths. It's surprisingly soft, the dark strands actually well cared for. I comb my fingers through it, and I hear Gajeel sigh.

"You keep doin' that, and I'm gonna fall asleep on ya." He starts walking over to the living room, sitting down on the couch, after setting me down. He lays down then, and his head is pillowed on my lap, and I realize what he wants me to keep doing after a second of staring blankly. I run my fingers through his hair again and finger comb the knots loose gently, and he closes his eyes, sighing in happiness.

Who knew? Gajeel likes it when you play with his hair. And is good at braiding? I just gently comb his hair smooth and after getting the, now whiny Gajeel, to sit up, I braid his hair down his back, tying the end off with a hair tie dug out of his pocket.

"Thanks."

"Your welcome." I say brightly, and he looks at me, then hugs me close and doesn't let go. I never pulled away.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: This is now going to be a series of one shots that are completely unrelated to each other.

My prompt for this one: In which Gajeel experiences a real, heartfelt hug for the first time.

I elaborated from there. Enjoy, dear readers. Please let me know what you think!

Phoenixfyretail

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Granted, they had been home for a while now, but with everything in chaos for a while after Tenrou Island, neither Gajeel nor Levy saw each other outside of brief glances while passing. And dear god, was he starting to miss her something terrible. Not that he'd ever say that. He's a man, goddamnit, and a dragon slayer. No wishy washing missing of Levy.

After yet another exhausting day of questioning, running around, council members and just general boring stuff from hell, he finally could go home. Back to Pantherlily, who spent his free days happily training and whatever he did during the day. He entered his small home, kicked his boots off with a thud, and hung his coat up. He didn't know that it was possible to have a sore back from doing nothing, but hey, now he knew.

Just as he finally got to flop down on his glorious couch, he heard something unexpected, but not unwelcome. Levy's soft footsteps patted across his porch and he heard three knocks on the door, as was her norm.

"It's open Levy." He called, grinning in triumph when he found a bolt in his pocket. He absently began to chew on the metal to hide his pleasure and trepidation at her coming over, but he couldn't help the smile at seeing her pad into his living room wearing one his large jackets over her dress.

"Gajeel! It's good to see you again." She said with a smile, coming over to sit next to him, her small form tucking in the small space next to his sprawled out one. Neither of them minded, as there was more warmth and comfort this way.

"Yeah. 'S been a while." He said, chewing on the last of his bolt. He wondered if there were more in the kitchen. He was so at ease with Levy now that he didn't feel pressured to make awkward conversation, and he knew that she would probably end up staying the night.

"Are you okay? I know you were injured pretty badly on Tenrou Island." He looked up at the serious and quiet tone of her voice, more than a little surprised. Her beautiful brown eyes were downcast and worried, almost as if she thought it was her fault. He wasn't quite sure what to say, I mean sure, he was fine, but she sounded guilty, and he didn't like that.

"Hey… I'm fine. There's no need to worry." His gruff voice was slightly more so than usual, as he still wasn't used to someone being concerned about him. She looked up, and he sat up, his hair starting to flop over his forehead. They met each other's eyes for a quick second, and then Levy was hugging him closely, her small arms wrapped around his chest as best she could.

The blush rose up Gajeel's face from his neck, and he went stiff, feeling far too awkward to do anything but stutter and flail his hands weirdly. After a few seconds though, he looked down again, and Levy's face was peaceful, her ear pressed to his chest over his heart. Slowly, not sure if he was doing it right, he lowered his arms to close around her, resting his chin on her head of blue hair. She hummed in happiness when he tentatively returned the embrace, and slowly, he found himself relaxing into it, closing his eyes.

Gajeel held her closer, breathing in her soft scent of books, paper, and something herbal and he felt so many things overwhelm him all at once. God, why hadn't he done this before? He nuzzled her hair, and he felt something new, though not unwelcome. The pure, clear feeling of love rose up into his chest, and he felt his throat clam up with the heavy emotion.

Her small hands were coursing through his thick hair, and he found his thumb absently rubbing circles on her back, the sensation of gentle pulling in the black mass causing him to sigh and sink down even more into her caring embrace. Levy was magical. She never moved, never hesitated in holding him close to her small form as he felt himself begin to break, cuddling close to her.

Since she was so small, she was sitting in his lap, and his head was nestled into her chest as he listened to her heartbeat. Her arms kept him close, and he felt her press a kiss to his head.

"I'm here Gajeel." Levy murmured, and he settled his hands on her hips, not quite sure how to respond quite yet. Or even if he could really, as his throat was tightening up and he didn't quite trust himself to speak yet, but he forced the words out thickly.

"I… know…" He shuddered with his next breath, and he felt the tears start coming, though he didn't quite know why. His eyes were wide in surprise when he felt the drops start falling, but he couldn't bring himself to stop them.

"Levy…" Just her name. She pressed a kiss to his head again and didn't pull away, hands stroking soothing circles over his back and he shook with quiet, rasping sobs. His face was pressed into her breasts, forehead resting gently on her breastbone, and she straddled his lap as she held him.

After several gasping, struggling breaths, Gajeel looked up at her, a stray tear still on his cheek. Her thumb flicked it away, and he met her brown eyes, looking more than a little embarrassed.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what the hell happened there." He looked away, a tint of red darkening his cheeks, eyes downcast. She smiled and brought her hands up to cup his jaw.

"There's no need to apologize. Everyone does it eventually, and I'm glad I could be here for you when it did." His eyes widened, but they grew almost comical in size as she pressed her lips to his.

'…..HOLYFUCKINGHELL…'

After a few seconds of freaking out mentally, he slid one hand up her back and into her hair, and the other came around to tighten on her lower back.

He pulled her to his chest, deepening the kiss. She made a 'mmph' of surprise but smiled into it, allowing him deeper access. She pulled away for breath in a few seconds and sat back, blushing at his smile that he gave her.

"Gihihi… Didn't know you had it in ya shrimp." She mock glared at him.

"Don't push it Gajeel." He didn't, just pulled her in for another kiss.

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Finished! Let me know what you guys think and give me some more ideas! I always love ideas and reviews! Love you my faithful readers!


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